Pile fabric



W. MURDOCK Aug. 11, 1942.

Y PILE FABRIC Filed Aug. 2, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hatilllnllllslllnurk'll n l iM* 1NVENTOR. .7/1/1//10772 Murdock ATTORNEY.

Allg 11 1942- w. MuRDocK 2,293,008

' PILE FABRIC` FledAug. 2, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wf//f'am 14255-521252 ATTORNEY.

Aug. 11, 1942. w, MURDQCK 2,293,008

PILE FABRIC Filed Aug. 2, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 1N V E NTOR.

` Mmmm'.

Mlm/77 %zrc/ack Patented Aug. ll, 1942 rrLE FABnTc William Murdock, Owasco, N. Y., assignor to Firth Carpet Company, Inc., New York, N. Y.

Appucatitn August 2, 1940, serial No. 349,900 (ci. 139-394) l 4 Claims.

This invention is a chenille carpet fabric and the machine and method for making the samein such manner as to accord to the finished product a rampant shaggy surface texture having that depth of feeling and luxury which is so characteristic of chenille carpeting. s

. In the manufacture of chenille carpeting `it has heretofore been customary to achieve the deep pile luxurious effect through an unblemished upright -pile in both the plain and figured effects; to this end considerable hand work goes `into the making of chenille carpet and with consequent high manufacturing cost; particularly is this true in figured chenille carpet where sharpness ofdesign is a requisite and the prior published art embraces a number of patents indicating that it is a rather ancient practice to enhance the sharpness of the figured areas byc1itting the'fur of the chenille strip to different heights along the `product like the sample submitted with this application for patent;

Figs. 4 and 5 are plan views, in planes at right angles to each other, of one form of mechanism which I have successfully used commercially for producing the irregularly cut fur strips;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation showing the oscillating cutter cam displacer for the mechanism of Figs. 4 and 5;

Figs. 'I and 8 are fragmentary views similar to Figs. 4 and 5 showing a modified formv of cam displacer;

Fig. 9 is a view similarto Fig. 6 showing the cam displacer of Figs. 7 and 8 in end elevation;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary end elevation showing the slitter knife structure;

Figs. v11` and 12 are fragmentary sectional elevations longitudinally of the slitter showing the slitter knife travel.

In det-ail: The weftl fabric which is to be split into fur strips is indicated at A in Fig. 1 and between its selvages, which may be regular or irregular,

irregular or undulating fur strip together with the manner of combining it in successiveadjacent rows upon a carpet foundation in such manner asto substantially eliminate any hand work such as must be performed in order to produce desirable curved effect with the processes heretofore practiced. I

Further objects of the invention are the machine and method whereby the inventions are carried into effect. i

With the above, and other objects.` in view, I shall describe forms which the invention may take in practice, and which I have illustrated in the `accompanying drawingsforming a part of this specification.

In the drawingsz` I I i Fig. 1 is a plan view of a chenille weft fabric being severed into several fur strips having irregular fur;`

Fig. `2is an enlarged opened up sectionalview inthev plane of the warp showing the manner in which the fur vstrip isincorporated into the carpet;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of are the usual warps I to 5 inclusive; between the warps the fabric is irregularly split to form the flat fur strips 6 to Ill inclusive, the slitting being accomplished in the manner and by the machine about to be described. The weft fabric A before being split may be passed over a suitable contracting roller and tension device, not shown, since they are a part of the usual slitter and are well known in the art.

Weft fabric A then passes onto a cutting bed II fluted or corrugated as shown to make the weft fabric track properly and having a portion I2 which is grooved at I3 to receive the warps I to 5 of the weft fabric A while the wefts are principally over the wider'spaces I4. The spaces I4 have a width whichtakes in substantially the Adistance from one'warp to another. The cutting bed is carried by upright swinging links I5 at each end pivoted at I6 to the cutting bed Il and at I1 to the stationary bed so that the cutting bed II may have a limited lateral movement. Connected to the links I5 at one end of the Abed is a horizontal link I8 which extends-beyond the `cutter bed and is attached to the extremity of one a portion of the finished arm of a bell crank lever 20 as at 2| which is pivoted at 22 and the other arm of which is pivoted at 23 to a link 24 connected at`25 with alever 25 swinging on a fixed pivot 21 where the end roller 28 rides over the irregular surface of acam `29 keyed to the driven shaft 3U operated from the samedriving means (not shown) which turns the cutting drum 3|. 'I'he cutter bed is urged to its extreme right hand position by a coil spring 32 connected at one end to eye 33 secured to the base and at the other end to eye 34 secured to the cutter bed.

Above the cutter bed and having its axis of rotation parallel with the cutter bed is a cutting drum having dovetail grooves v35l longitudinally spaced therearound to receive the extremely sharp cutting knives 36 which slit the weft fabric between the warps to divide it into the fur strips 6 to I0 as shown in Fig. 1.

As the weft fabric travels over the roller cutter bed II the cam 29 is driven in unison by the same prime mover that rotates the cutting drum 3|. The knives are of such dimension as to enter the spaces I4 and as the cutter bed II is oscillated by the action of the cam 23 and attendant linkage an irregular slitting of the fur is produced somewhat as shown in Fig. 1 and the pattern of cut may be varied by substituting cams 29"'h'ving different faces. In Figs. 11 and 12 the position of the weft fabric and the slitter knives together with theextent of variation in the cut is clearly indicated.

I have inustrated in Figs. 7, a and 9 a snghuy` different arrangement in which the cutting bed I I has no oscillating movement but instead the cutting drum is oscillated; since the parts are otherwise the same they will be designated by the same reference characters as previously used with the exception of the description of the cam displacer elements.

In Figs. 7 to 9 the cutter drum 3| Is laterally oscillatable to perform the cut and at one end of its Journaled neck carries a grooved or shrouded member 36' in the groove 31 of which are pins 31 of a yoke 38 which is on one end of an oscillatable lever 39 pivoted intermediately at 40; the other end of the lever 40 has a 'nger 4I riding in the side cam groove 42 of the cam 43 keyed to the shaft 44 and driven by the same prime mover as rotates the cutting drum 3 I.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that with the cutter bed I I xed and the cutting drum 3| and cam 43 driven in unison the cutting drum 3l will be oscillated and as the weft fabric is drawn under the knives the same irregular or undulating height of cut fur as previously described will be the result. Essentially the fur forming mechanism includes all of the elements used to standard types of mechanism for forming chenille fur strips steamed or ironed in V-sh'ape form and the novel features added are the spaces in the cutting bed andthe oscillation of either the cutter bed or cutting drum to slit the fur into strips which can be formed into V-shape and have an undulating height of fur. The fur on each side of a single strip may be of differing height as shown if desirable.

When the fur is incorporated into a carpet the weaver may abandon the usual practice of setting each strip straight, in fact, a better effect is obtained if the fur strips are gradually twisted as they are incorporated so that it is more or less accidental as to the angular or upright arrangement of the fur, thus producing a rampant effect which is very pleasing to the eye and with an entirely miscellaneous pattern.

In Fig. 2 I have illustrated a cross section of a chenille carpet woven in the manne;` of my invention. In this weave the sheds are opened between upper and lower foundation weft shots 4I and I5, as shown, and one or more stuffers 48 are secured therebetween by the chain warps 41,

only o ne of which is shown for the sake of clarity, the float 48 catches warps 43 (only one of whichis shown) and V-shape fur wefts 50 which are inserted to form the surface. In inserting the fur wefts 50 the weaver makes no attempt for the eifect shown in Fig. 3 to set the fur upright and it consequently falls every which way even at times being caught down in portions; however as he inserts the strip across a carpet width he may give it several complete twists to throw the fur in different directions and thus secure a more irregular effect, and this ls clearly contemplated in the fabric of my invention and is for the purpose of avoiding any regularity of design. .Any suitable chenille foundation and surface weave may be used and is of course within which is twisted to throw the fur of the same "strip in different directions to secure a varying rampant appearance.A v

While, in the foregoing I have described the invention in particular with regard 'to certain desirable phases thereof, it -is nevertheless to be understood that in practicing the same I may resort to any and all modifications within the scope of the appended claims dening my invention.

I claim:

l. A pile fabric which comprises a backing web made up of stuffer warps, face and back weft threads respectively above and below the stuffers, binder warps crossing the weft threads and binding them against the stufer warps, strips of V-shape chenille having fur irregularly undulating in height lying above thestutfer warps in irregular arrangement, and chain warps binding the strips in place to form an irregular pile surface, said fur strips being placed at random to avoid the formation of a distinct pattern.

2. A pile fabric which comprises a backing web made up of stuffer warps, face and back weft threads lying respectively above and below the stuffers, binderwarps crossing the weft threads and binding them against the stuffer warps, strips of V-shape chenille having fur undulating in height lying above the stufer with each strip twisted in its length to throw the fur ends on opposite sides of the center thereof, and chain warps binding the strips in place, said fur strips being placed at random to avoid the formation of a distinct. pattern.

3. A pile fabric including a woven foundation with chain warps binding chenille fur strips, and V-shaped chenille fur strips, each of irregularly undulating pile height and forming a pile surface with the adjacent undulations of sucessive fur strips in miscellaneous pile height arrangement to provide a rampant irregular pile throughout the fabric face, said fur strips being placed at random to avoid the formation of a distinct pattern.

4. A pile fabric including a woven foundation with chain warps binding chenille fur strips, and V-shaped chenille fur strips, each of undulating pile height bound into the pile face with the pile throughout the length of each strip being irregular in its degree of erectness, whereby the undulations and irregularity of erectness of the pile in successive strips provides a rampant pile surface throughout the face of the fabric, said fur strips being placed at random to avoid the formation of a distinct pattern.

WILLIAM MURDOCK. 

